Interchangeable heel and heel tap attachment



1949- F. GEORGE ET AL 2,478,264

INTERCHANGEABLE HEEL AND HEEL TAP ATTACHMENT Filed Oct. 30, 1944 Fomzasr 6601265 f/xmzy 7. flaw/my Patented Aug. 9, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE fNTERCHANGEABLE HEELAND HEEL TAP ATTACHMENT Forrest George and Harry A. Dailisman, Wichita, Kane; said George assignor to said Dadisman Application October 30, 1944, Serial No. 551,030

7 Claims. 1

Our invention relates to the structural and styling features pertinent to plastic or metal heels employed in women's high-heeled footwear by means of achieving interchangeability of both heel and heel tap.

It is intended that this invention shall afford a means of quickly and securely attaching and/or detaching a heel from the main body of a shoe or other footwear for the purpose of interchanging one type of heel, or color of heel with that of another.

It is further intended that this invention shall afford a means of replacing or interchanging the heel tap without the aid of a repairman for the purpose of replacing worn taps with new ones, or of interchanging one color of tap with that of another thereby allowing a combination of heel assembly colors. The advantages and desirability of heel and heel tap interchangeability to both manufacturer and consumer are obvious. Interchangeability will stimulate a high degree of saleability both to heel and shoe, and will lend itself readily to new avenues of styling and color design. Interchangeable heels may also be packaged and displayed at a saving of space inasmuch as the removed heel and/Or the unassembled heel'may be inserted inside the shoe or packaged beside the shoe until it is ready to be assembled and displayed.

It is further intended that these attaching or fastening devices may be fixed or molded permanently into the body of said heel by way of other designs.

It is intended that this invention will permit the convenience of having accessible heel taps in purse kit packages available to the consumer as required.

It is further intended that plates which may be used in securing the heel to the shoe or the heel tap to the heel shall be considered a means of protecting the heel member from chipping or scratching, and that aluminum or alloyed types of metals be employed for the purpose of reducing the weight of heel members.

This invention further proposes to design as optional features, the plates, fabricated of aluminum or other alloys to be plated, colored, or otherwise finished in brass, chrome, silver, or imitation gold colors to match shoe buckles and shoe strap guides or other metal accessories known to shoe manufacturers; or that said plates shall be fabricated of plain or multi-colored or solid colored plastics to combine with or contrast to heel and/or shoe colors; or that the shoe or heel body shall be so designed as to extend and to overlap the edges of metal or plastic plate thereby concealing the edges ofsaid plate as the consumer may desire.

The basic structure and the styling features which are characteristic of the invention are set forth in the following claims as described in the views: I

Figure 1 is a full view illustration of a conventional type high heel shoe-indicating by broken lines the approximate positions the forward edges of a short and a long attaching plate would occupy if such plates were assembled into the main body of the shoe.

Fig.2 is a side view of a heel that has a short attaching plate on the top thereof and a heel tap on the bottom thereof.

Figure 2a is a side view of a heel which has a long attaching plate on the top thereof and a heel tapon the bottom thereof.

Figure 3 is a side view of an extruded metal plate designed for the purpose of becoming a permanent member to the main body of the shoe by means of riveting, sewing, or otherwise securing to the body of the shoe, the term shoe as used herein is intended to include within its meanin all kinds of womens high heeled footwear.

Fig. 3a is a partially-sectioned perspective view of the underside of the attaching plate of Fig. 3, and it is taken along the plane indicated by the line 3a3a of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3b is a partially-sectioned front view of the attaching plate of Fig. 3 and it is taken along the line 3b--3b.

Fig. 3c is a bottom view of a rectangularpeg that may be welded to a suitable plate to provide an attaching plate with a projection of rectangular cross section,

Fig. 3d is a bottom view of a cylindrical peg that may be welded to a suitable plate to form an attaching plate with a cylindrical projection.

. Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view of a heel that is usable with the attaching plate of Fig. 3.

Figure 5 is a side .view of a replaceable heel tap with support plate, blanked from sheet aluminum or other alloy and riveted or otherwise secured to .a spring metal lug, and designed for the purpose of supporting a leather lift riveted or otherwise secured to said plate; or a rubber lift of contrasting or solid colors, vulcanized to the plate; or a plastic or any fibrous lift riveted or otherwise secured to said plate.

Referring to the drawingin detail, the numeral 2 denotes one of a number of openings or holes that are provided in the attaching plate of Fig.

3a for the purpose of riveting, sewing, or otherwise permanently securing that plate to the body of a shoe, thus permitting the edge of said plate to fit flush into the cut-off of leather portion of the shoe sole as shown in Figure 1.

The numeral 3 denotes the guide shank which is dimensionally designed to receive a maximum stress on either forward or rearward weight thrusts and causes an evenly distributed stress load by way of properly seating the shoe body into the concave top I of the attaching plate of Fig. 3. The guide shank 3 of the attaching plate can be inserted into the recess or channel 8' of the heel of Fig. 4. Secured to the bottom of the guide shank 3, as by a rivet 6, is a springy latching member 4 of generally L-shaped' configuration. The bent end of the member 41s located opposite a slot 5 in the shank 3; and the slot 5 permits the springy member 4 to be bent toward the guide shank 3.

As the guide shank 3 is inserted into the recess orchannel 8 the springy member 4 will be bent toward the guide shank 3, but When the upper end of the springy latching member 4 passes the shoulder 9 of the heel, the member 4 will assume the position shown in Fig. 3. In that position the upper end of the member 4 will underlie the shoulder 9 of the heel and will prevent withdrawal of the guide shank 3 from the recess or channel 8. In this way, the spr'ingy member 4 normally maintains the shoe and heel in assembled relation.

When desired, the springy latching member 4 can be disengaged quickly from the shoulder 9, thus releasing heel body from the shoe by merely inserting an object such as a fingernail file or pencil through channel opening I!) of the heel of Figure 4 and applying slight pressure to spring latch 4.

The numeral I6 denotes a support plate blanked of aluminum or other alloyed metal so designed to extend as a slight edge margin beyond the plastic surface of a heel with which the support plate is to be used. The numerals l2 and [3' denote the shanks of a spring metal lug, withits reinforcing spring metal clip I4 o f particular resiliency and strength. The clips l2 and I3 are riveted or otherwise secured to the plate [6 at l5. These clips are dimensionally designed and formed to allow their insertion into the lower heel channel Ill of Figure 4. The direct insertion causes lug shanks, l2 and I3, to contract and then expand through opening 10, and then to lock on material ledge I l of Figure 4 at sufficient angular margin to assure security.

The numeral l1 denotes a leather lift riveted to the under side of plate iii, of Figure 5 It is optional, as heretofore statedthat colored rubber lifts may be vulcanized to the plate l6 or that plastic or other fibrous materials may be otherwise secured thereon.

The comnlete heel tap, as assembled, is removable from the lower heel channel by exerting a 45 degree (or thereabout) angular thumb pressure at the rear of the heel body. A direct pull on the heel tap from any angle other than this approximate angle will not, under normal wearing hazards, remove it from its channel. It has been considered that normal wearing conditions will not impose nor exert so much as a 45 degree angular stress on the heel tap from any point.

As indicated in Figs. 3c and 3d, the downwardly depending portions of the attaching plates of the present invention need not be fiat but can have the form of a thick parallelepiped or a cylinder. Where depending portions of this configuration are used, the recess in the top of the heel will have a complementary form. Although not shown in the drawing, the depending portions of Figs. 3c and 3d would be provided with springy latch members when they were secured to a shoe.

Whereas the drawing and accompanying description disclose several embodiments of the invention it is to be understood that the drawing and accompanying description do not limit the invention and that the invention will be defined by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An attaching plate that is adapted to be secured to and carried by a shoe and is adapted to engage and hold the removable heel of said shoe, and that has a shoe-engaging portion, a downwardly depending portion of rectangular cross section along a horizontal plane that is integral with said shoe-engaging portion, and a resilient latching member, said latching memher being permanently secured to said downwardly depending portion and being adapted to be positioned within and totally enclosed by the heel of said shoe, said latching member and said plate being adapted to releasably maintain said heel in engagement with said shoe.

2. An attaching plate that is adapted to be secured to and carried by a shoe and is adapted to engage and hold the removable heel of said shoe, and that has a portion adapted to be secured to a shoe, a rigid downwardly depending portion, and a resilient latching member secured to and carried by said rigid downwardly depending portion, a heel having a recess at the top thereof and an opening at the bottom thereof, and means normally closing said opening at the bot tom of said heel, said heel and the recess and opening thereof being dimensioned so the recess receives and tightly holds said downwardly depending portions of said attaching plate, said recess being in communication with the open* ing at the bottom of the heel and said closing means being removable whereby an instrument can be inserted through said bottom opening to act upon said resilient latching member and permit movement of said heel out of engagement with said attaching plate.

3. An attaching plate that is adapted to be secured to and carried by a shoe and is adapted to engage and hold the removable heel of said shoe, and that has a portion adapted to be secured to a shoe, and a heel-securing portion, a heel having a recess in the top thereof to receive said heel-securing portion of said attaching plate, holding means in said heel to cooperate with said heel-securing portion of said attaching plate to normally hold said heel in assembled relation with said attaching plate, said heel having an opening at the bottom thereof in communication with said recess in the top of said heel whereby means can be inserted through said bottom opening of said heel to act upon said heel-securing portion of said attaching plate and disengage it from said holding means of said heel, thereby permitting withdrawal of said heel from said attachirlg plate, and a removable closure for said opening at the bottom of said heel.

4. An attaching plate that is adapted to be secured to and carried by a shoe and is adapted to engage and hold the removable heel of said shoe, and that has a portion adapted to be secured to the sole of a shoe and has a latching means, and a heel that has a recessinthe top thereof to receive said latching means, said heel havin means therein adapted to receive and be held by said latching means of said attaching plate, said heel having an opening at the bottom thereof adapted to be closed by a removable heel tap, said opening at the bottom of said heel being in communication with said opening at the top of said heel whereby removal of said heel tap permits the insertion into said heel of means that can act upon said latching means to permit the disengagement of said heel from said attaching plate.

5. An attaching plate adapted to be secured to and carried by a shoe, a latch carried by said attaching plate, a heel with a recess at the top thereof to receive said latch, a heel tap, securing means carried by said heel tap, and a recess at the bottom of said heel to receive said attaching means of said heel tap, said bottom recess being in communication with said recess at the top of said heel to permit the insertion of means through said bottom recess to act upon said latch.

6. An attaching plate that is adapted to be secured to and carried by a shoe and is adapted to engage and hold the removable heel of said shoe and that has a shoe-engaging portion and a latching portion, and a heel that has a recess in the top thereof and an opening at the bottom thereof, said recess of said heel being adapted to receive and totally enclose said latching portion, said bottom opening of said heel being in communication with said recess whereby means can be inserted through said bottom opening to act upon said latching portion, thereby permitting separation of said heel from said attaching plate, said latching portion of said attaching plate having a broad flat face bearing against the recess in said heel to resist movement of said heel forwardly and rearwardly of said attaching plate.

7. An attaching plate that is adapted to be secured to and carried by a shoe and is adapted to engage and hold the removable heel of said shoe and that has a portion adapted to be secured to a shoe, a downwardly depending portion integral with said shoe-engaging portion, and an L-shaped latch, said L-shaped latch having one arm thereof longer than the other and having the long arm thereof permanently secured to said downwardly depending portion of said attaching plate, said downwardly depending portion or" said attaching plate having a recess therein that is spaced from the point of securernent of the long arm to the downwardly depending portion of said attaching plate and is in register with the shorter arm of said latch, said longer arm of said latch normally being inclined relative to said downwardly depending portion of said attaching plate but being bendable toward said downwardly depending portion of said attaching plate, said recess in said downwardly depending portion of said attaching plate being adapted to receive the shorter arm of said L-shaped latch and permit bending of said latch.

FORREST GEORGE. HARRY A. DADISMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 372,435 Sommerfield Nov. 1, 1897 1,235,32 l Kimber July 31, 1917 1,338,580 Morgan Apr. 27, 192 1,339,438 Dink 11, 3 1,598,397 Senise Aug. 31, 1926 1,829,252 Zubia Oct. 27, 1931 1,829,253 Zubia Oct. 27, 1931 1,986,727 Hall Jan. 1, 1935 2,195,324 Brunmark Mar. 26, 1940 2,233,250 Easton Feb. 25, 1941 2,266,575 Treece 1 Dec. 16, 1941 2,279,894 Sauer et al Apr. 14, 1942 2,308,103 Pearson et a1 Jan. 13, 19l3 

